The 20th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC2017)

A Study on Latency-guaranteed Multi-hop Wireless

Communication System for Control of Robots and
Drones

Toshinori Kagawa, Fumie Ono, Lin Shan, Kenichi Shin Kato

Takizawa, Ryu Miura, Huan-Bang Li, and Fumihide Intelligent Systems Research Institute
Kojima National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and
Wireless Networks Research Center Technology
National Institute of Information and Communications Tsukuba, Japan
Technology
Yokosuka, Japan
kagawa@nict.go.jp

Abstract—Robots, including unmanned aerial vehicles, or
drones, are the hot research topics aiming at application to
disaster response, infrastructure inspection, logistics, etc.
Wireless LAN in 2.4GHz band is used for control link of many
robots because of cost performance and device availability.
However, the wireless LAN protocol is not suitable for the remote
control of robots, particularly in the multi-hop network for
beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) operation, because of unstable and
large transmission latency and interference problems. In this
research, we have developed a latency-guaranteed multi-hop
wireless communication system specialized for remote control
and telemetry link of robots and drones, which need the BLOS
operation. This paper presents the design and performance of
prototype system obtained in field test.
In this research, we developed a latency-guaranteed multi-
hop wireless communication system specialized for remote
control and telemetry link of robots and drones, which need the
BLOS operation. This paper outlines the prototype system
applied to the control of a drone and describes the evaluation
test results.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. First, we
illustrate the principle of latency-guaranteed multi-hop wireless
communication system in Section II. Configuration of the
system and scheme of communication are explained in this
section. Then, Section III shows evaluation result of the system.
Finally, the paper is concluded in Section IV.

Keywords—Robot Control; Drone; Multi-hop Network;

Beyond-Line-of-Sight Control II. PRINCIPLE OF LATENCY-GUARANTEED MULTI-HOP
WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
I. INTRODUCTION
Fig. 1 shows configuration of proposed latency-guaranteed
Robots, including unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones) are multi-hop wireless communication system. The system
actively researched[1]-[3] and developed aiming at application provides the connection to robots or drones beyond obstacles.
to disaster response, infrastructure inspection, logistics, etc. The coordinator (controller) makes control link and telemetry
Many of the robots are controlled and monitored via 2.4GHz link to the end-device robot via the router robot. The router
wireless LAN. However, wireless LAN is not suitable for robot relays the control link from coordinator, or telemetry link
control of robots because of the following reasons. from end-device robot. The end-device controlled by
coordinator via the router robots, and sends telemetry data such
・ Unstable and large communication latency due to
as latitude, longitude, altitude, inclination, heading, and so on
unstable radio propagation environment., particularly
to the coordinator. The system gives the capability of BLOS
in the multi-hop network for BLOS operation.
operation for the robots.
・ Short range propagation, which depends on country
・ Subject to interference by other conventional wireless
LAN systems.
The BLOS operation is expected in many areas of drone
application that need the long-range flight. We can use the cell
phone networks for the BLOS operation. However, they would
not be always available in remote areas in the mountains and in
the disaster situations.

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 The 20th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC2017)

Fig. 3 shows prototype of latency-guaranteed multi-hop

Fig. 1 Configuration of proposed latency-guaranteed multi-hop
wireless communication system
wireless communication system. The prototype system consists
of one coordinator, two routers, one end-device, and control PC.
We adopt 920MHz band that propagates to a wider range than
2.4GHz band.
Fig. 4 shows the relationship between the data rate and
delay time of the system. This system adopts TDMA in order
to keep fluctuation of delay time and delay time within a
certain value. Furthermore, in the robot control, data rate and
allowable delay time are depending on the operation situation,
the data rate and delay time are in a trade-off relationship. If
the slot frame of telemetry link is enlarged in order to increase
data rate of telemetry link, the delay time increases because the
super frame becomes longer. And the data rate of control link
relatively decreases.

The system adopts latency-guaranteed communication

using TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access). This TDMA is
implemented in data-link-layer (layer-2) for minimizing
preambles. Fig 2 shows construction of super frame. Control
link (coordinator to end-device) and telemetry link (end-device
to coordinator) of the super frame are asymmetry. Because,
telemetry link (GPS data, position data, or altitude data) is
larger in capacity than control link. The length of super frame
is variable, and number of slot frame of telemetry link can be
changed to different settings. The number of slot frame of
telemetry link is four in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 Prototype of latency-guaranteed multi-hop wireless
communication system

Table 1 Specification of latency-guaranteed multi-hop wireless

communication system 70000

Frequency 920MHz band 60000

922.8MHz, 50000
Data rate[b/s]

923.8MHz,
40000
924.8MHz, Control link [b/s]
925.8MHz 30000
* based on ARIB Telemetry link [b/s]
20000
STD-T108
10000
Frequency bandwidth 1MHz
Modulation 2FSK 0
Size (Antenna not included) 96 x 93 x 31.7 mm 0 200 400 600 800
Delay time of control link[msec]
Weight (Battery not included) 156.3 g
Continuous operation time 7 hours Fig. 4 Relationship between the transmission rate and delay
Transmission power 20mW or less time of the system
Number of multi-hop up to 3-hop
Super frame cycle 65 msec ~ (variable)
Fig. 5 shows measurement of range and receive success rate.
Delay time of control link depend on super The "transmission point" indicates transmitter position and (a) -
frame cycle (g) point indicate receiver position. Transmitter is on the roof
Delay time of telemetry link 65 msec (fixed) of 60m building, and receiver is on the ground. "Dist." means
Range (urban) 2km or more distance between transmission point and each (a) - (g) points.
Receive success rate is calculated by number of receive success
frames and whole of transmit frames (the total number of
Table 1 shows specification of latency-guaranteed multi- transmit frames is 1000). It is found that the system can
hop wireless communication system. The system strengthens communicate more than 2km distance.
the interference robustness by switching four frequencies
/010230 4511044 678904
(922.8MHz, 923.8MHz, 924.8MHz, 925.8MHz). 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 100 [%]
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 The 20th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC2017)

III. EVALUATION RESULT OF LATENCY-GUARANTEED MULTI-

HOP WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

A. Evaluation Experiment Overview

We conducted a drone flight control experiment including
BLOS using our proposed system. Fig. 6 shows the
arrangement of control station (coordinator), router1, router2,
and flight route of the drone (end-device). Radio propagation
condition between coordinator and router1 and router2 are LOS
(Line-of-Sight), but radio propagation condition between
coordinator and end-device is changed from LOS to BLOS due
to obstacle such as small hills and trees. First, drone flied to
“Hovering Point” in BLOS area from “Takeoff Point” in LOS
area by the proposed system. Then, the drone returned to
“Takeoff Point”. In this experiment, we successfully confirmed
that the drone control can be established continuously while
switching the communication path as the drone moves, and
measure the received signal strength during flight. In order to
confirm how the communication path dynamically switches,
the path with the highest hop count is selected experimentally.
Fig. 5 Measurement of range and receive success rate
Table 2 shows specifications of the drone that used in this
experiment. Fig. 7 shows connection diagram of this

Fig. 2 Construction
Fig. 2of super frame

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 The 20th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC2017)

experiment. Drone is controlled by main operator via the multi-

hop link or direct link in the 920MHz band, where the routing
path is changed adaptively by the position of drone. A backup
operator with a hand controller is standby for safety, who
watches the flight status visually and obtains the control just in
emergency. Although the case of 3-hop is shown in Fig. 7, it
changes to 1-hop or 2-hop according to radio wave propagation
state.

Fig. 8 Comparison between free-space-loss and measured

received signal strength value

Fig. 6 Arrangement of devices 2) )- )2 ) ( () - )

Fig. 7 Connection diagram of experiment
Table 2. Specification of drone
Model ENROUTE CO., LTD.
ZION PG700
Size 988 x 988 x 230 mm
Weight (Battery not included) 3.0 kg
Flight Controller 3DR Pixhawk
Control Software Mission Planner
B. Measurement of Received Signal Strength
Fig. 8 shows a comparison between free-space-loss and
measured received signal strength value. In the region where
the straight-line distance is 50 to 200m, it generally follows
free-space-loss model, but when it exceeds 200m, the loss
becomes steeper. It is assumed that the communication path
between drone and router2 is shielded by obstacle such as trees.
In this system, since communication path is established while
switching among four frequency channels (922.8MHz,
923.8MHz, 924.8MHz, 925.8MHz), the theoretical value of
free-space-loss is calculated by averaged these values. Fig. 9
shows positional relationship between the transmitter (router2)
and the receiver (drone/end-device) in this experiment. And we
confirmed that the delay time was kept constant within 62.411
– 62.673msec even if the received signal strength fluctuated.
,)- ,
, 2- . (- ) (2 )
,)- ,
2 - )2
2 - )2 .) 2)) ,-.. )
2 )2
Fig. 9 Positional relationship between the transmitter (router2)
and the receiver (drone/end-device)
IV. CONCLUTION
In this research, we proposed latency-guaranteed multi-hop
wireless communication system for the control of robots and
drones. This paper describes the outline of proposed system
and the results of BLOS control experiment for a drone using
our system. Currently, we are adding an RF module in
169MHz band to that in 920MHz band, and switching
capability between them for emergency usage in case that the
radio link in 920MHz is lost. The radio link in 169MHz band is
expected to give larger cover area than that in 920MHz band,
whereas it has limited bandwidth and the number of channels.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research was funded by ImPACT Program of Council
for Science, Technology and Innovation (Cabinet Office,
Government of Japan).

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 The 20th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC2017)
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